–Memories flooded Myrtle Shaw’s mind as she gazed into the mirror. She smiled, blinking her large, contact-lens-less green eyes. She thought of her little village, Saltby St. Mary’s, recalling balmy summer evenings at the cricket pitch, sipping champagne by the walls of the ancient church, only the occasional ‘thwack’ of willow on leather breaking the peaceful silence.
She recalled the seven ‘unfortunate incidents’ – villagers found dead – shot, stabbed or poisoned, and how she had masterfully solved every case, assisted, of course, by Inspector Jack Johnson and the Boys in Blue from the nearby town of Thicksby.
She regarded herself in the mirror again, realising that this was a writer’s cliche and knowing that she, herself, was a fictional character. Poor old Augustus Chrystle! Her creator, ‘God,’ lay in hospital, seriously ill, and her future as an amateur detective was on hold.
‘Carpe diem!’ That was her catchphrase in all seven novels, applauded by a multitude of readers around the world. Nervously, she twisted a necklace of polished jade beads, hoping against hope that God would recover, and by his grace another resident would meet a sticky end, giving her the opportunity to use the phrase once more.
–
Featured in the book and audiobook, To Cut a Short Story Short: 111 Little Stories
- Please consider making a small donation to help towards the running costs of this site. It would be greatly appreciated.
- Don’t forget to check out some other stories on this blog. There are over 450!
- To purchase the stories on To Cut a Short Story Short up to December 2021 in paperback, Kindle, eBook, and audio-book form, and for news on new titles, please see Shop.
This one was clever. Where do you get the ideas for all of your short stories? I’d love to know your thought-processes into creating them.
Thanks Mathew, I admit I did chortle when I wrote it!
To my (great) surprise, someone commented recently, asking how I write my stories. So I said I would do a post about it, as I have come up with a system that is perhaps not so obvious, and might be helpful to others. I was intending just to write about the editing process really (thinking that no-one would be interested in my thought processes regarding composition) but I will be happy to include a section on how/where the ideas come from. I’ll try to keep that post below about 1500 words (people get bored easily!). I’ve got posts scheduled (every five days) until early May. So I will schedule that one for May 19th, with pleasure!
Looking forward to it all, Simon!